Chapter 17

"Woah," Spider-Man gaped in amazement.

Gwen, feeling a bit self-conscious with the stare he was giving her, felt thankful that her mask was there to cover up her face.

"Umm, mind helping me tie them up?" Gwen said, still feeling slightly pumped from the adrenaline rush.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Spider-Man said sheepishly before tying the muggers up with his web. "There, done & done," he said smugly as he admired his handiwork of wriggling limbs.

"Huh, that's pretty neat," Gwen said in admiration as she watched him in action. "A-anyway, we need to talk," Gwen said immediately.

"Oof, you made that sound like I'm in for a break-up," Spider-Man said jokingly. "I'm Spider-Man, by the way," he said, while offering his hand for a handshake. "But you sound like you knew that already," he mulled to himself jokingly. "Do I know you?"

"Yeah," Gwen said quickly before pausing, slightly unsure if Spider-Man still remembers her. "M-maybe, you've saved me befor-,"

*Tingle*

As soon as Gwen felt the slight tug in her head, she quickly realised that her senses was warning her of another nearby crime. Before she finished scanning her surroundings, a blur of red & blue passed by her head, swinging pass her.

"Sorry! It was nice meeting you miss!" Spider-Man yelled at her as he swung by.

"W-wait!"

"It's dangerous around here, leave the hero-ing to people like me miss!" Spider-Man continued as he swung further away, giving her a thumbs up from afar before swinging into a nearby alley.

"Great…," Gwen grunted to herself in annoyance, before taking a deep breath & launching herself up onto a nearby building. As she crawled up onto the rooftops, she relied on her senses to guide her forward.

She rushed onto the scene as quickly as she could, only to see Spider-Man already taking care of the last mugger with his webs.

*Tingle*

Before she could jump down & catch him however, her senses blared again, distracting her temporarily.

*Thwip*

Before she could react, Spider-Man was already off towards the source, swinging on his web. Only this time, he saw her, perched on the rooftops (Huh?), as he was swinging away.

Gwen smiled sheepishly from under her mask as she waved towards the wall-crawler as he swung away, his gaze fixed upon her before turning away into another alley.

Undeterred, Gwen jumped across the rooftops, sprinting as quickly as she could to catch up with him. As she did so, her convictions becoming more certain, as she realised that her senses seem to be picking up the same thing that Spider-Man is sensing.

Once she reached her destination, she saw Spider-Man fighting against an even larger number of people.

"8… 9… 10 remaining," Gwen counted under her breath slowly, noting that 3 of them was already strapped onto a nearby lighting pole by Spider-Man.

Taking another deep breath to psych herself up, Gwen tried to jump down into the fight. Instead, her feet remained rooted onto the roof, whilst her body leaned forward to make the jump, causing her to lose balance and fall off the edge, eventually crashing down into one of the assailants.

As they rolled around uncontrollably, carried forward by her momentum, the others seemingly stopped fighting, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Oww," Gwen rubbed her temple in pain, slightly disoriented by the tumble, as she got up, her fall cushioned by the now unconscious mugger.

"Miss?" Spider-Man exclaimed in surprise, once he saw Gwen rising up from the crash.

"She's with Spider-Man! Get her!" yelled out a nearby thug. The remaining thugs then split themselves up, with three of the remaining nine surrounding Gwen.

"Leave her out of this!" Spider-Man yelled out before jumping towards Gwen. However, the remaining thugs quickly swung their bats & pipes, forcing him to dodge & pushing him back.

"Heh, your boyfriend can't save you now," snarled one of the thugs as he adjusted his grip on his bat.

Gwen readied herself, as she faced down the three thugs surrounding her. "You guys seriously think you can beat me before he beats up your friends over there?" Gwen said with as much bravado as she could muster at that moment.

Feeling slightly nervous, as she's never gotten into a fight, noting that the last two instances were surprise attacks where she relied mostly on her agility, she gulped nervously, hoping to use her agility to avoid their strikes while she waits for Spider-Man's help.

As soon as the first thug yelled out & swung his bat towards her, Gwen's senses immediately sharpened, zooming in towards the strike, time slowing down all around her, as she feels the attack coming towards her at almost 1/100th of its initial speed.

Perplexed, Gwen immediately ducked out of the way. Suddenly, she feels another tingling sensation at the back of her nape, as she sees another thug trying to tackle her from behind. Again, Gwen was slightly surprised by the sudden slowing of time, and she easily flipped herself on top & over him.

"Woah, that was sick!" Spider-Man yelled out from afar, as he caught a glimpse of what Gwen was doing whilst he was fighting.

Gwen felt her cheeks turning red momentarily, before another thug came in, swinging his steel pipe at her.

This time, Gwen made use of her agility & easily avoided the swing, whilst also delivering an elbow strike onto his chest.

The thug was flung across into a nearby wall, knocked unconscious by the impact.

Gwen blinked in surprise for a few moments.

'Lucky I was holding back,' Gwen thought to herself, before smirking, as she finds the confidence to use her newly found powers to stop the muggers.

"Well, looks like I won't be needing Spider-Man after all," Gwen said smugly as she turned towards the remaining two thugs.

Freaked out by the sight of their friend, thrown into the wall, the two thugs immediately dropped their weapons & turned to run away.

"Oh no you don't," Spider-Man's voice suddenly rang out as he fired his webs at the two fleeing muggers and pulled them back, before smacking them for a bit & trapping them with his webs.

Gwen turned towards where Spider-Man was surrounded previously and saw that he had already webbed up the muggers onto a nearby wall. As she stood there in amazement at how quickly he defeated them, Spider-Man slowly tapped her on the shoulders to catch her attention.

"Hey there,"

"Woah! What the f-," Gwen yelped in surprise.

"W-woah! Relax, it's just me, just me," Spider-Man said sheepishly, his hands held up by his side.

"S-sorry," Gwen apologized.

"N-no, that was my fault, sorry about that," Spider-Man replied. "So, uh, you following me?"

"K-kind of, yes," Gwen rubbed the nape of her neck slowly.

"Oh, ok," Spider-Man said while rubbing his chin comically. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure, yeah,"

"How did you get here so fast?" Spider-Man asked. "I didn't think you could catch up to me that quickly,"

"I, uh, have, super… powers? I guess?" Gwen said hesitantly.

"Ohh, that explains it," Spider-Man smacked his head in frustration. "Sorry, I just thought, you know, with the sweater & the goggles…,"

Gwen's hand immediately went up to her mask, feeling slightly embarrassed at her current attire.

"No, no! It's okay," Spider-Man immediately apologised, when he saw Gwen's reaction. "Are you just starting out?"

"Huh?" Gwen blinked back in confusion.

"With, you know, the whole superhero stuff," Spider-Man said, while gesturing towards Gwen in general.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess you could say that," Gwen said hesitantly.

"Oh cool. I used to have a similar attire myself. Didn't have a mask tho, so I webbed my face up. Gotta say, did not enjoy that," Spider-Man continued, shaking his head in regret. "Anyway, what's your power? Super speed? Agility?"

Gwen bit her lip from underneath her mask, as she hesitates momentarily. "I, uh, I think I have your powers,"

*Store bell chimes*

"Thanks man," Spider-Man yelled out as he stepped outside.

"No problem, dude. Anything for you my man," the store clerk beamed back towards him.

Gwen saw the whole thing from atop her perch, up on the building across the store. A few moments later, Spider-Man lands right next to her, having zipped himself up with his webs.

"Here," Spider-Man said as he solemnly hands her a canned coffee.

"Thanks," Gwen nodded, as she grabbed the drink & took a sip out of it. "Uhm, I uh, didn't think to bring my wallet," Gwen said softly.

"Oh, haha, it's ok," Spider-Man chuckled softly. "It's on the house. His house, not my house," Spider-Man quickly clarified. "The guy gave it to me for free, so even if I wanted to charge you, it literally costs me $0," he continued, before cracking his can open & taking a sip out of it.

"Right. I guess I'll enjoy the free drink then," Gwen smiled from beneath her mask.

They sat together for a few moments, enjoying their coffee together.

"Right, back to business," Spider-Man said as he turned towards Gwen. "How did you find out about your powers?"

"Oh, uh, accidentally?" Gwen said, slightly taken aback by the sudden question.

"Right, huh," Spider-Man continued to mull to himself. "Why did you think they're my powers?" he asked.

"Oh, that," Gwen said. "Coz, uhm, I think they're similar?" Gwen offered, blushing slightly under her mask as she realised how little she actually knew about Spider-Man's powers, and how silly her conclusion sounded now that she said it aloud.

"Really? What powers do you have then?"

"Err…, super speed?" Gwen said hesitantly.

"The proportional speed of a spider, ok," Spider-Man nodded to himself.

Gwen blinked back in confusion for a few moments, before continuing. "S-super strength?"

"Same, proportional strength of a spider, that sounds legit,"

"And uhh, I can stick to walls?" Gwen offered slowly.

"Anything a spider can, sure, sure," Spider-Man nodded thoughtfully.

"Right, I guess that's, uhh, it?" Gwen said, slightly unsure.

"Right," Spider-Man sat in silence for a few moments. "Maybe you're, uhh, a 'Magnet-Girl' kind of hero?"

"Huh?" Gwen looked back in confusion towards Spider-Man.

"I'm joking, I'm joking," Spider-Man said as he leaned back, sitting more comfortably. "But, well, if those are all your powers, then you know, it could be super magnetism, or like, super stick, or something,"

"R-right," Gwen nodded slowly, feeling slightly embarrassed that her conclusion might've been wrong. "B-but I have like this, sense thing, that warns me about stuff," she tried explaining.

"Oh? Really?!" Spider-Man suddenly perks up upon hearing her words.

"Yeah. There's this weird sensation I get, like something gnawing at the back of my head, every time there's something happening nearby, or if someone seems like they're attacking me,"

Spider-Man gasped in amazement, as he stood up excitedly. "Woah! You also have the 'Spider-sense'?"

"Y-yeah, I guess so?" Gwen stammered, slightly taken aback by Spider-Man's reaction. "And while I was looking for you, I kept getting this weird tingle. And every time I turned to it, you were already swinging towards it,"

"That's amazing!" Spider-Man exclaimed excitedly. "I think that pretty much cements it. Wow, another spider huh?" he continued, a hint of disbelief & relief laced in his voice.

Gwen sat in silence for a few moments, thinking about what she's experienced tonight. "Oh, but I guess I'm a bit of a late bloomer, coz I still can't make those webs come out," Gwen said, as she mimicked the way Spider-Man pressed his palms, towards the air.

A sudden thought crept up to her as she realised how disgusting it is for the webs to form naturally inside her veins. "Urgh," Gwen felt her body shiver slightly, just imagining the discomfort of the webs, pooling inside her.

"Oh, that's not-oh wow. You thought-Eww," Spider-Man seemingly cringed at his last words. "No, no, those were handmade, right here, see?" he thrust out his hand & pulled back the sleeves to reveal a bracelet-like gadget strapped onto his wrist. "They're my 'web-shooters'," Spider-Man continued proudly.

"Oh wow," Gwen gasped as she took a look at the contraption. "You made these yourself?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

"That's pretty cool," Gwen said, her curiosity now triggered by the contraption in front of her.

"Here, I'll lend it to you," Spider-Man said, as he took one of the bracelets off & passed it to her.

"R-really?"

"Yeah, sure. A spider's nothing without his webs. Or her, in this case," Spider-Man chuckled to himself at the joke. "Do you want to know how it works?"

"Yes please," Gwen nodded enthusiastically, her eyes still inspecting the bracelet in her hands,

"The spinneret mechanisms in these, are machined from stainless steel. Except for the turbine, those were made from Teflon, and the turbine bearings are made of amber & artificial sapphire," Spider-Man explained, carefully pointing out each individual component as he does so. "The wristlets & cartridges are mainly nickel-plated annealed brass, the first of which have these sharp steel end to pierce the bronze caps when the cartridges are wedged into positions,"

"Oh wow," Gwen nodded thoughtfully as she listened to his explanation. "And this palm switch here? That's the trigger?"

"Yeah, the hand-wound solenoid-needle valve on the shooters is activated by the switches-,"

"And these band of spring steel serves as a protection of sort? To prevent misfires?" Gwen offered.

"Y-yes!" Spider-Man exclaimed excitedly, thrilled at the Gwen's engagement towards the conversation. "I've also put in an additional safety measure. The trigger has to receive a double-tap, from my middle & third fingers-,"

"So, if I just press them like this," Gwen said, then immediately pressing the switch with her middle & third finger simultaneously.

"Nothing comes out, correct. That way, it won't be a problem if I'm balling my fist, or carrying stuff," Spider-Man explained, trying his best to hide the excitement in his voice.

"I see," Gwen continued nodding thoughtfully. "What's the webs made up of?"

"Oh, those? I also made those myself,"

"What? No way," Gwen said, slightly amazed at his apparent ingenuity.

"Yeah, I make them at my lab," Spider-Man nodded enthusiastically.

"You have your own lab?!" Gwen exclaimed in disbelief.

"Uhm, I guess? Sort of?" Spider-Man said as he seemingly tries to avoid the question. "Are you good with Chemistry?"

"I'm okay,"

"Right, stop me if any of these confuses you," Spider-Man said hesitantly, before continuing. "So, spider silk is mostly made up of amino acids, protein fibre, like alanine & glycine," he continued, with Gwen nodding along as she listens to his explanation. "We've already safely determined that the Glycine chains are what gives it, its elasticity, while Alanine regions are the ones that gives the silk its strength,"

"I see," Gwen nodded in understanding. "So, you mix these two together then? How do you even produce Alanine & Glycine?"

"Water," Spider-Man said proudly, his mask practically radiating with happiness at Gwen's apparent interest. "If you look at the chemical make up of both of these, its really just the product of an NH2 radical with H2O, and some Hydrocarbon,"

"Huh, is that it?"

"That's the gist of it. You can break down Hydrazine & Ethane for the basic building blocks, and that's mostly it," Spider-Man continued his explanation, now playing with a strand of web that he shot for an explanation. "Its then just a matter of rearranging them in a repetitive core, whilst flanking them with some aminoterminal domain & a carboxyterminal domain,"

"So, it's literally, artificial spider silk?" Gwen continued fiddling with the cartridge, still amazed at the mechanism & explanation. "Then, how do you make them into… you know, like webs & stuff. Coz at this point, all you'd have is just some liquid protein, no?"

"That's where these things comes in," Spider-Man continued, now pointing to a small component inside his bracelet. "The small turbine pump vanes serve to compress the web-fluid, and then force it through the holes-,"

"Which then cold-draws it, then extrudes it through the air, solidifying it, and increasing it's tensile strength," Gwen continued finishing his sentences as the understanding dawns upon her. "And as the web-fluids fire out from the spinneret, the electrostatic force-,"

"Causes it to attract to itself, allowing it to form complex shapes, like the web line; or a spreading spray; or by its base form, a thick tremendously adhesive liquid,"

"Huh," Gwen tried firing a few strands of the webs from her shooters, trying to get used to the trigger mechanism. "What happens when it runs out of webs?"

"You just pop the cartridge out like so," Spider-Man then demonstrated using his own web-shooters, as he pops the cartridge out, and replaces it with a new one. "And then place in a new one. There's a locking mechanism that wedges the cartridges into position," Spider-Man explained. "Take a few of these cartridges for your shooters, I make plenty of them everyday at sch-at my lab," he corrected himself mid-sentence.

"Oh wow, this is so cool," Gwen said excitedly as she kept firing the shooters giddily at nothing in particular. "I just thought the webs comes as part of the super-powers, you know," Gwen said sheepishly.

"You'd think so, but no," Spider-Man said as he cocks his head to the side. "Right then. Up for some swinging lessons?"

"WOOOOHOOOOOO!"

"That's it, aim with your hips," Spider-Man yelled from the side, his voice trailing off, carried away by the wind as they swung around the area.

"This is AMAZING!" Gwen yelled out in excitement as she feels her surroundings starting to blur.

"You're doing great! Just thwip & release, thwip & release," Spider-Man said by her side as he swung in tandem with her. "That's it! You're a natural!"

"YEAH!" Gwen continued yelling out in excitement, as she feels herself getting used to the trigger mechanism.

"What say we take this up a notch?!" Spider-Man yelled out, still swinging next to her to keep an eye on her.

"Sure!" Gwen exclaimed excitedly.

Spider-Man then lets out a laugh before turning towards her mid swing. "Try to keep up then!" he exclaimed, before eventually zipping past & in front of her.

"You're on," Gwen muttered to herself excitedly as she tries to propel herself further, faster. She reasoned that releasing her swing mid-arc would give her the most forward momentum, hoping to launch herself forward as fast as she could.

However, she did not take into account the speed of which she would be propelled forward, causing her limbs to flail behind her as her body sped towards the front. As she panicked and tried to force her arms forward, she missed her aim & fired a web strand aimlessly onto the air.

Now falling, Gwen panicked and immediately started to press the trigger as rapidly as she could, to no avail.

"Double tap! You need to double tap!" Spider-Man yelled back, himself now zooming back towards Gwen as fast as he could. "Don't panic!"

In her panic, Gwen eventually fired off a strand, but she accidentally aimed it onto the pavement, which did nothing to stop her fall.

As she closed her eyes, bracing herself for impact, she suddenly felt a slight collision onto her side, and the feeling of the air brushing onto her skin again, as the vertigo of the swing again caught up to her.

"I got you, I got you," Spider-Man said immediately, holding Gwen under one of his arms.

"Sorry about that," Spider-Man said, crouched down, arms on his knees, panting from the recent exertion.

"No, no, that was my fault. I panicked," she said between breaths, lying down on the rooftop, the adrenaline still pumping inside her.

"No, it was mine. I shouldn't have egged you on, it's too early,"

"No, it's my-," Gwen caught herself before she continued apologising, locking eyes with Spider-Man from beneath his mask. As they both stared in silence for a few moments, they then both started laughing uncontrollably.

After eventually getting themselves under control, Spider-Man plops himself down next to her, as they both laid down, staring at the night sky.

"This view sucks," Gwen said jokingly as she stared at the starless sky of New York.

"Yeah, it's light pollution," Spider-Man replied slowly.

"Shut up, that's not a thing," Gwen brushed it off jokingly, before noting the silence from her partner. "Wait, is it really?"

"Yeah, it's coz of all the lights from the skyscrapers & the streets," Spider-Man explained, smirking slightly from underneath his mask.

"I knew that, I just didn't know it was called 'light pollution'," Gwen mulled to herself.

"It is, you can look it up," Spider-Man said confidently.

"Nah," Gwen shook her head, as she continued to stare at the starless sky, breathless from the recent exertions. "How did you get your powers anyway?"

"Hmm? Spider bite," Spider-Man said casually. "How did you get yours?"

As soon as she heard it, the events from last night immediately dawned on her, realising that she did in fact get bitten by a spider during the scuffle at her uncle's lab.

"O-oh, huh?"

"How did you get your powers?" Spider-Man asked again, his head now turned towards Gwen.

"Uhm, same," Gwen said quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed to admit to her initial hypothesis of how she got her powers. "When were you bit, if you don't mind me asking,"

"Not at all," Spider-Man shook his head. "A few months ago, during a convention. You?"

"Oh, uhm, recently actually,"

"Right," Spider-Man nodded slowly.

Gwen quickly tried to change the topics. "So, is this how a typical 'Spider-Man' night usually plays out? Stop a few crimes, get some free drinks, then lay on rooftops for the whole night?" she playfully joked.

"Hah, more or less," he chuckled softly. "Although, today seems to have been particularly busy. Especially considering how it's only just about midnight as well. Usually, we wouldn't be seeing any action until after midnight," he mulled to himself.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Spider-Man nodded off-handedly. "Three random muggings in quick succession like that is just, weird you know. Especially that last one where there was like, a whole gang of people at once, that was a bit weird,"

"Four," Gwen corrected him.

"Four?" he asked back in surprise.

"Four. I stopped one earlier, before I met you," Gwen explained. "You were taking too long you know,"

"Urk, my bad, I'll do better next time mom," Spider-Man joked playfully. "Jokes aside, that's a lot of muggings, within the same area, at roughly the same time," he mused to himself.

As they continued their conversation, the clock started beeping to signify that it was already midnight.

*TINGLE*

Suddenly, Gwen's sense blared up, as her senses blared in multiple directions, almost simultaneously.

"Wait, wha-,"